Changes write creatively

It’s a little while since I first visited Changes at the Old Mining College in Burntwood, in fact it was cold and snowy and today we are having a heatwave. It wasn’t actually that long ago – crazy British weather!
The group decided that they would like to do some writing, possibly, but not necessarily, poetry; we would like to keep our options open at the moment. The group at Burntwood will have around 5-6 clients. Interest in the project at Lichfield Changes was less than Burntwood but having chatted to Samantha Follows, I felt it would be worthwhile still operate the project with both centres. Some clients are happy to go to either venue whilst some prefer to stay at their ‘home’ venue. Samantha and I discussed the possibility of alternating the venues for workshops and structuring the project such that clients could go to either or both venues.
We thought it would be good to have some kind of presentation event to mark the end of the project, probably using the Lichfield venue which is larger and would be more suitable. As the clients do not necessarily want to present their own work, I will approach some previous Mysteries participants and ask them to volunteer when the time comes.
Changes are flexible as to the timing of the project but we want to aim for late autumn/winter. The clients find the winter months more difficult and it would provide a focus.
The practitioner we use will have to be reasonably flexible to coordinate sessions with the Changes timetables in both Burntwood and Lichfield. We discussed the possibility of members of local writing groups assisting with the project as volunteers. This would obviously depend on what the groups ultimately choose to do. We also talked about doing some collaborative group writing.
It is all still very flexible so the next step is for me to talk to some writing practitioners and ask them to come up with proposals for workshops to facilitate the project. Some funding is in place for this project but I may need to source some more, depending on the practitioners costing.
It’s good to be able to start to move forward.

Lichfield Mysteries facilitates and encourages involvement in the Arts through dramatic performances, including the Lichfield Mysteries, and other artistic activities - and we're always looking for new ideas and opportunities.